InstructAbility and Better celebrate Rojimon's continuing success.

Rojimon Cherian, who is visually impaired, a qualified fitness professional at GLL’s Parkside Pools and Gym continues to encourage people of all abilities to get active.

42 year old Rojimon, from Cambridge, certainly knows about the challenges of overcoming disability and how important exercise is to both physical and mental wellbeing. This year he joined the InstructAbility programme, a Sport England funded project, managed by the spinal injury charity Aspire. The scheme offers YMCAfit gym instructor training and a voluntary work placement for unemployed, disabled people.

Prior to Rojimon’s condition, he used to work as a kitchen assistant, however his poor vision made it unsafe for him to continue and he found himself unemployed. He explains, “As my eyesight continued to deteriorate and I battled with the feeling of worthlessness for not being able to provide for my family and fell into a dark chapter of my life. I barely got out of bed, let alone left the house, it took months of my wife ‘nagging’ me to leave the house, that I finally visited Cam Sight and my life took a positive turn.”

“I started going to the gym and found a running partner. This enabled me to start turning my life around as I felt I had purpose again. Since then I have completed numerous 10k, half marathons and full marathons.”

Rojimon now wants to use his personal experience to enable others to get fit, increase self-confidence and find new opportunities.

Since qualifying Rojimon has been based within the Parkside Gym and General Manager, Chris Ord, says, “Having Rojimon working as part of the team at Parkside Pools & Gym has been fantastic. His energy and enthusiasm within the centre has added a real asset to our team and our customers. Rojimon also runs a mentoring program for other visually impaired users within our community; this is invaluable and the project has been a great success”.